One Wednesday evening at around 7ish, I get a call from a dear friend and a business associate who represents one of the highly rated importer of the country. “Bro, I hope you are coming to taste some great wines in the wine tasting event, representing 100 labels? ”
After taking the details I said yes, but I was captivated with the fact of tasting 100 wines in 2 hours. Usually in this scenario, a few great wines end up burning a lot of your time, even when you can’t afford to! It happened with me as well, with a wine named “Ardèche Chardonnay”- a typical expensive Burgundy style bottle from- hold it- The Rhône Valley!
As if the novelty of a Chardonnay from Rhône was not enough, the wine surprised me with its amazing expression and a great character, so much so, that we unofficially, named it as a “controversial wine” – for its unconventional character and provenance.
The wine comes from the house of Louis Latour, one of the most innovative producers in Burgundy also known to have admirably preserved in tandem, the traditional art of winemaking . The producer has over two centuries of Burgundian history and hence a Chardonnay from their portfolio coming from the Rhône Valley , which is associated more with its GSM blends and aromatic Viogniers ,was no wonder a matter of intrigue.
Delving deeper, I discovered that the name Ardèche comes from a 125-kilometre long river in south-central France, a right-bank tributary of the River Rhône. The valley of the Ardèche River with its clay and limestone soils was chosen as the ideal location to produce a top-quality Chardonnay wine.
Tasting Notes
A clean-crisp wine, aged in tank, medium-bodied and showing some bright lemon, tangerine, peaches and apple notes backed by fresh acidity. I found it as a beautiful and refreshing expression of Chardonnay with great value for money (₹ 1780.00 in retail ex Delhi).
One thing is for sure, this wine can be an amazing twist in the series of blind wine tastings.
Difficult to control your naughty mind, isn’t it ? 🙂
